The nice people at Sainsbury’s recently sent me some of their new Taste the Difference infused sugars to try. Available in lavender, vanilla and cinnamon they are designed to replace standard sugars in recipes. I’ve infused sugar with vanilla and cinnamon, myself, in the past but never lavender so I was eager to try this one out.

Shortbread was the obvious easy to make choice and so I fired up the oven and got to baking. The sugars are very fragrant and I was a little unsure about whether or not I should replace all the sugar with the lavender infused version or just mix it 50/50.

In the end I decide to just go for it and substituted it 100%. Despite the incredibly strong aroma of lavender the cookies are actually very subtle in taste and the lavender is not at all over powering. The flavour builds as you eat and you get a lovely lingering, but gentle lavender taste left after the biscuit is finished.

I took half the batch I made into the office the next day and all my colleagues loved them and want me to make more. The rest have been happily devoured by myself and MrsA.

The next challenge is what to bake with the others. I’m thinking glazed buns for the cinnamon sugar and doughnuts for the vanilla. If you have any better ideas let me know in the comment section below and I might just give your idea a go.